It was blasting from a coffee-shop jukebox, and I was transfixed. I changed all my pocket money into threepenny bits and played it over and over until my money ran out. It was exciting beyond belief to hear it pumping out of those massive Wurlitzer speakers and I can honestly say that it was the life-changing moment that opened the pathway to the rock and roll music that I grew to love. I couldn’t wait to get to my local record shop and buy the single – a 78 rpm Columbia disc (catalogue number DB 3980) that sits proudly framed on the wall of my home studio. A place of honour.

As I got to know Paul Anka’s music more (‘I Love You Baby’, ‘Lonely Boy’ and ‘Put Your Head on My Shoulder’ – now famous through a million random TikTok clips), I began learning about his growing friendship with Buddy Holly. They were thrown together on seemingly endless tours, some as long as 80 days, playing countless cities across America, often with Eddie Cochran and Jerry Lee Lewis sharing the bill. 

Broken-down tour buses, late-night drinking parties and thousands of miles. But somehow Buddy always stayed separate from the madness. ‘He had a soft shyness about him,’ said Paul. ‘He was a country boy, very raw, simple, modest and sensitive. He and I were neck and neck with our hits “That’ll Be the Day” and “Diana” and, like me, Buddy wrote his own songs. He also had his own group, the Crickets. We were all buddies.’

They began to talk about collaborating and creating a different, more orchestral sound for Buddy’s records and when Buddy relocated from Lubbock to New York, leaving his southern twang behind, their serious work together began. Soon Paul came up with the song that gave Buddy one one of the biggest hits of his career – ‘It Doesn’t Matter Anymore’. It was recorded on 21 October 1958 at the Decca Studios in New York City, with an 18-piece orchestra and string players brought in from the New York Symphony. It was incredibly sophisticated and totally different from everything Buddy had recorded before. During the time of the studio session Buddy had been constantly talking to Paul about his lovely new wife Maria Elena and by the time the record came out, on 5 January 1959, she was pregnant. They were very much in love – happy, excited and optimistic about the future.

Less than a month later, Buddy was dead. A few weeks after that, ‘It Doesn’t Matter Anymore’ topped the UK charts and Paul Anka donated every penny of his royalties to Maria Elena, to protect her future. Mine is not the only life changed by the sound of Paul Anka’s music.

Bob Harris